Process of storing and averaging materials in bulk.



No. 677,677. Patenten my 2, |901.

E. VH. mssslen.. .PRDCESS 0F STORING ANU AVERAGING MATERIALS IN BULK'.

. (Application led In'. 22, 1901.) No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shouf' I.

' Ar-rofM/Eys f ou.. MUN-Umm wrunamn. n. c.

mi mms mins No. 677,677. Patented lluly 2, l90l.

E. H. MESSITER. PROGESS 0F STDRING AND AVERAGING MATERIALS IN BULK.(Applicaton Bled Har. 22, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED v STATES .ATENT Ormes.

EDWIN HENRY MESSITER, OF SAN LUIS POTOSI, MEXICO.

PROCESS OF STORING AND AVERAGING MATERIALS IN BULK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 677,677,7dated July 2,1901. Appiianon tied nach 22, 1901. serai No. 52,3'88. (No moan.)

To ctZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN HENRY MESSI- TER, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Proc-v esses of StoringandAveraging Materials in Bulk, of which the following is a specication.

The invention is designed to provide for the' storage of material of avariable character in such a way that when withdrawn from storage thematerial withdrawn will be for all practical purposes a substantiallyhomogeneous mixture of that which Was stored, and to do this with aslittle labor as possible and at as small an initial outlay as possiblefor bins, buildings, (itc. It is designed more especially for thestorage of ores and the preparation of charges for blast-furnaces. Theusual procedure in lead-smc] ting, at least, is to bed the ores byforming each kind of ore into a horizontal layer in a rectangular bin bymeans of wheelbarrows, the. The ores are removed from the beds byentering through doors in the sides of the bins and attempting to cutthe beds down vertically. The caving of the ore causes irregularity inthe resulting mixture and the expense for labor is great.

The leading feature of my process consists I in bringing in the ore bymeans of an elevated conveyer which is capable of discharging thematerial not from a fixed and definite point, but from a travelingpointV uniformly along a certain portion of its length by a sort ofsowing action caused by the travel of the discharge devices, ashereinafter fully described with reference to the drawings, in which-Figure l is a side view, partly in section, of the appliances employedand the horizontally-extended bank of' materials. Fig. 2 is a plan view;Fig. 3, a cross-section; and Fig. 4; is a view looking endwise at theelongated banks of material, showing a multiplicity of the latter and anextension of my process.

In Fig. l I show a conveyera and the points b and c, between which thedischarging devices CZ and e travel and discharge uniformly. Of severalusual types of conveyer available for this purpose I prefer a beltdischarging into achte d by means .of the pulleys e c, as shown, tlliechute and pulleys being moved back and-*forth between the points b and cin 'uniform manner with respect to the length of the travel, forming anelongated layer, a succession ofy which in parallel courses form theelongated bank f.4 (Seen in cross-section in Fig. 3.) In removing thematerial from storage in this bank I provide, preferably, an excavatoror conveyer .of ordinary construction, such as a chain of buckets, whoselongitudinal axis is arranged transversely to the bank and whichexcavator or conveyer is capable of motion laterally to itself andlengthwise of vthe bank on guides r r. This excavator is adapted toremove the materialin a direction at right angles to the bank,taking thematerial constantly from the foot of the slopes h h' h2 h3 successivelyas it advances, these slopes be= ing inclined at the angle of repose ofthe material. Said excavator orconveyer discharges the material into aconveyer Ys, of ordinary design, which conveyerk is arranged parallelwith the bank and delivers the material at any desired place. Theconveyer is, as shown ,Y of the endless-belt type, but may be any otherform. The material being removed uniformly from the parallel slopes h2h3 will be a practically homogeneous mixture of the several classes ofmaterial deposited in the layers of the bank. That which is removed fromthe extreme ends, being a relatively very small portion, will be anapproximately true mixture. Obviously the removal of the material fromthe slopes h h', dac., may be accomplished by means of shovels andWheelbarrows or in any other convenient manner.

When it is desired to use several storagebanks in conjunction with eachother, my process can be used to even greater advantage. For thispurpose an arrangement of apparatus` similar to that shown in Fig. 4might conveniently be used. This figure presents an end view of fourbanks in different stages. In Fig. 4 the material is represented asbeing brought in by a conveyer Z, adapted to discharge at will intoeither of the conloo Say, every two minutes without difficulty. It willt ning at right angles with them,which conveyer fm will deliver thematerial to any desired place. A return-conveyer q1, maybe providedadjacent to and parallel with the conveyer m, which conveyer n may beused to return, by means of the chute o, any material which mayinadvertently have been allowed to pass by all of the conveyers cr'- a2CL3. a4, as well as to return the extreme end portions of any stor-Vage-bank to the con veyer l, by means of which such material will beincorporated in the bank which may be in process of formation at thetime. In Fig. 4 the conveyer Z is represented as delivering into theconveyer d3, which is distributing the material in the storage-bank 3.At the same time the excavator g' is sup,-- posed to be removingmaterial from the bank f'lthrongh conveyers 7c and m. Simultane-- ouslyexcavator g2 is represented as removing an end portion of the b ank f2,the material from which end portion is being conveyed,

bymeans of conveyers 7a2, n, Z, and d3, to the bank f3. The object inredistributing the ends of the banks is that the end of a bank,

being conefshaped, will not give a homogeneousA mixture by a straightcross-cutof the excavator. Bank f* is in reserve.

rlhe conveyer d, Fig. l, may by the travel of its discharge chute d bemade todischarge over the entire length of a bank containing, tenthousand 'tons of ordinary material thus be seen that the mixing of thematerial is accomplished by my processwit-h the utmost accuracy, for thematerial removed'from any slope, as h3, Fig. l, will be composed oflayers ofthe. material deposited during, say, every two minutes of the'time during which the bank was being formed.

The irregularity of the mixing occurring at i the extreme ends of thestorage-bank will be so slight and the proportion of the materialaffected by it will' be so small that it will be inappreciable in thepractice of preparing fur.- nace charges or in any ordinary operations.Where several banks are used, however, the redistribution of thematerial from the extreme ends is so readily accomplished, as heretoforedescribed, that I have illustrated it as f process an extension ormodification of my which may be used in special cases. My improvedprocess, considered with reference to a single storage-bank or withseveral storagebanks independent of each other, is complete forpractical purposes. Obviously when seva4 by ordinary means, each of eralbanks are used the material may be delivered to the conveyers a o? a3,dsc., in. any convenient way Whatever other than by the conveyer Z;also, obviously, the material may be removed from the slopes h' h2 71,3,&c., in any convenient way Whatever.

My process may be used for the simple storage and removal from storageof material not necessarily requiring to be mixed, and also for thepurpose of adding to a storage-bank partially formed other material tobring the whole to any desired average composition.`

` Il'am aware of the Patent No. 662,063, in which the averaging, mixing,and storing of materials are effected in a series of stratified `conicalpiles, each pile being formed as it grows in height by bringing intoaction a higher discharge-orifice, and in which the storage .of thematerial is in bins. In my inven-V tion no, bins are requiredV and thestorage in bulk is not in conical piles, but in prolonged horizont-alprisxnatic banks of materialvhich are formed by imparting to thedischarge spout orA chute a longitudinal travel that sows or distributesthe material along a definite '.path, forming a horizontally-extendedbank ;of unlimited length, which avoids the neces :sity of bins, themixing being effected by a transverse cutting action of alaterally-trav;` eling excavator, as described. l

Having thus described my invention, what il claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. The process of storing and averaging s materials in bulk, whichconsists in distrib- ;uting the materials in horizontal layers lonzgitudinally in an elongated bank, said layers being of different qualityand then removing the material uniformly from a cross-section 'iof saidelongated bank, substantially asset forth.

2. The process of storing and averaging smaterials in bulk, whichconsists in distrib- :uting the materials in horizontal layers lon-Ygitudinally in an elongated bank, said layers "abeing of differentquality and then removing 'the materials uniformly'from a cross-sectionalong planes inclined at the angle of repose fsubstantially asdescribed.

3. The process 'of storing and averaging jmaterials in the preparationof furnace charges, which consists in distributing the materials inhorizontal layerswith respect to the length of an elongated prismaticbank, said layers being of different quality and in removingthematerials uniformlywith respect `to a transverse section of said bank`substantially asset forth.V

4:. The process of storing and averaging materials, which consists indistributing the materials in horizontal layers longitudinally tin anelongated bank, said layers. being o f :ditterent quality, and inremoving thend ,lportions of said bank to a second bank, andthenremoving thematerials from'theremainder of the elongated bankuniformly with respect to a transverse section thereof, substantially asset forth.

5. The process of storing and averaging materials, which consists indistributing the materials in horizontal layers longitudinally in anelongated bank, said layers being different quality, and in removing theend p0rtions of said bank, and redistribu ting the materials from saidend portions in a second 1o elongated bank, and in removing thematerials from both banks uniformly With respect to the transversesections of said banks, substantially as set forth. EDWIN HENRYMESSITER. W`itnesses:

JAS. CALDWELL, H. W. WILSON.

